Geosure, who commissioned the work, have given us permission to
license the suite to other Soils Laboratories. The
spreadsheets are secured so that changes can not be made off site
(or even on unlicensed PCs!).

The calculations have been verified extensively by Geosure and
us, though as good engineers we always encourage you to take a
critical look at the results and make sure that you agree with them.

The suite can be licensed to you on a monthly or annual basis.
Instead of having to lay out a large sum up front to develop your
own reporting spreadsheets (or hacking it, getting formulas wrong, and improving gradually
over time), you can have a ready-made professional presentation
right now, and pay for it as part of your regular overheads.

You can
insert your own scanned signatures (password-protected).
This lets you print to fax or
electronic format (e.g. PDF) without having to print to paper and
sign that first. There is also a "stamp"
saying "DRAFT" for results not yet approved.

We can personalise output with your company details and logo for
professional presentation to clients.

Best of all, we'll give you a 15 days free trial so that you can satisfy yourself that it suits
your needs (for one PC, not personalised).

If it doesn't quite fit your needs, we are happy to make the changes you desire (at a
price, of course).

Click the Register by e-mail button and send the e-mail that it creates:
(If that PC does not have e-mail, click the Make Registration File button to save a file to e-mail from another PC,
or print or fax).

We at Software Africa will e-mail you a Key code for that PC.
The test license is valid for 15 days.

Select the
key code
in the e-mail and copy it to the Windows Clipboard.

Open the
Excel template again.
When requested, paste the key code into the input box.
This will license all spreadsheets for that PC.

If you decide that the system is for you (and if not, we'd like to
know why not!) then we will license as many PCs as you require for
whatever period you'd like to pay for in advance.

Prerequisites

To
run the Soils Lab Spreadsheets you must have
Microsoft Excel 2003 with macros enabled (Macro Security set to
Medium), running on Microsoft
Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or 3 (or Windows Vista).
The suite will require minor modifications to run on Microsoft Excel
2007.

To find out
which Windows version you have, click
Start > Run, type WinVer and press Enter.
If you have Windows XP but not Service Pack 2 or 3, we recommend that you
visit
Microsoft Update to download and install the latest
updates for your system.

To discover your version of Excel, run it and click Help >
About Microsoft Excel. If you aren't running
Microsoft Update to keep your
Office programs updated with the latest patches, we suggest
you do so.

We have not tested the spreadsheets on Open Office, but would be
happy to do so if there is a demand. Excel VBA macros would
have to be supported.

Pricing

The set of five Templates is available on monthly or annual
rental, priced either per PC or per Laboratory (one physical site with one name
and e-mail address). Prices in South African Rand for the
whole suite:

Conditions: All prices are based on payment in advance,
free of bank and exchange charges.
VAT
is not included (14% in South Africa, zero elsewhere). All
prices not yet billed are subject to change without prior notice.
Prices in other currencies on application.

Included:
Customisation with your company logo and contact details.

Updating the Spreadsheets

From time to time the Templates are revised to add
enhancements and fix any bugs that are found.

When a new version is released, it will be sent to you as a zipped file
just as it was originally. Unzip over the old version on each
PC.
When you open the new files, they will pick up the
registration details from your PC and run without needing to be
licensed again.

Do You Need Something More Sophisticated?

Spreadsheets are quick and versatile, and produce attractive
results. However, managing them can be painful. Because
they are all separate entities, it is difficult to make a summary of
many results. The spreadsheets don't have a formal approval
process, and they don't tie in to any billing system. They
only cater for the tests listed, and do not (for example) do UCS
(Unconfined Compressive Strength) or Asphalt tests. If these are concerns for
you, rather consider Labbie, the
Database for Soils tests.